This kind of fishing reel generally operates the clutch lever or rotates the return protuberance at a return plate, thereby disconnecting or connecting the clutch. The clutch lever, when moved forwardly to disconnect the clutch, may be hindered from its movement by any return protuberance which is positioned occasionally on the path of movement of the clutch lever due to a position where the handle stops, thereby creating a problem of a dull cutoff of the clutch.
In order to solve the above problem, a fishing reel has heretofore been proposed which has the return plate rotatable in a certain restricted stroke relative to an input shaft rotated by the handle so that the clutch lever moves the return plate within the above stroke to avoid the hindrance of the return protuberance, or which pivots a pawl on the utmost end of the clutch lever through a spring so that the pawl swings to avoid the obstructive protuberance, thereby allowing the clutch lever to complete its forward movement.
Both of the above reels, however, are complicated in construction and expensive to produce and especially the former reel will generate noise because of play between the return plate and the input shaft and the latter has an increased number of parts and is troublesome to assemble.